This Living Plant Has The Ability To Control A Machete

Taking a stroll through David Bowen’s website, it’s clear that this whole plant machete thing is just one art project out of many going back decades. Other highlights include a “phototropic drawing device” featuring a robot that follows light sources to draw figures using charcoal, a “cloud piano” that plays compositions based on cloud patterns, and “fly tweet,” which writes tweets based on the movements of flies — so basically, a step above the cogency of a typical tweet. In other words, there’s no reason to think that the whole plant machete thing is the singular passion project of a mad tinkerer and Bond villain intent on amputating hairless primates everywhere. Maybe.  

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Looking to how plant machete actually works, there’s a “control system” that “reads and utilizes the electrical noises” produced by a plant, the David Bowen website says. As ScienceDirect recounts, researchers have studied the electrical signals produced by plants for quite some time now. Questions still remain, however, like whether or not the signals have decipherable patterns. But before you jump to conclusions: No, when the machete-wielding philodendron in Bowen’s video swings its machete around, it’s not figuring out how to use its new favorite toy. The movements of the machete are simply a byproduct of the natural, internal salvo of electrical signals generated by the plant, same as those present in any other living creature. But still, don’t get too close.